


it counted up our feelings (and divided them up even)

by sleeplessmiles



Category: The Newsroom (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 01:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2794619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleeplessmiles/pseuds/sleeplessmiles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘What’s your position on dogs?’ Sloan asked loudly, walking into Don’s office and immediately dumping her bag and coat on the spare chair.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>Sloan makes an impulsive decision that looks an awful lot like a calculated risk. Don's a hard sell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	it counted up our feelings (and divided them up even)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt '67%' over on tumblr.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

‘What’s your position on dogs?’ Sloan asked loudly, walking into Don’s office and immediately dumping her bag and coat on the spare chair.

Don blinked, sat back slowly.

‘I’m sorry. Dogs?’

‘Yeah. Dogs. Don’t play dumb, Keefer, it’s unattractive. What’s your position?’

‘Well, I think they’ve got some pretty sound policies but if they end up in control of Congress, we’re all screwed.’ He smiled, pleased with himself.

She pouted.

‘Don.’

‘You  _could_  even say we’d be in the – ’

‘ –  _No._ ’

‘ – the doghouse.’ 

He looked up at her smugly. She narrowed her eyes, dropped her voice. 

‘You wanna try that again?’

‘Depends. You wanna tell me what the hell this is about?’

She sighed, rephrased. ‘How would you feel about us getting a dog?’

‘How would I  _feel_?’

Sloan frowned. ‘You’re Don Keefer-ing me. Stop it.’

‘I am not!’ he exclaimed, a laugh in his voice. This was his life now. ‘I’m simply trying to process the rapid change from  _espionage laws_ ,’ he brandished a hand at the papers strewn across his desk, ‘to “can we get a puppy?”’

She was still looking at him expectantly. He paused for a moment, contemplating.

‘I love dogs. You know that.’

‘You also love pizza,’ she countered.

‘That’s true.’

‘Come on. What do you think? This is time-sensitive.’

_Was it now._

He cocked his head with a small smile, adopting a calmly curious tone. ‘And why is that?’

She blew out a breath, looking up at the ceiling. ‘I may or may not have gotten a dog.’

Don blinked.

‘May or may not have,’ he repeated slowly. 

‘I got a dog.’

‘You got a dog.’

‘Yes.’

Was the fake smile was still frozen on his face? It felt like the fake smile was still frozen on his face.

‘Now. How did that happen?’ 

‘Well, you see,’ she began.

‘Yeah?’

‘I have this friend.’

‘Okay.’

‘And she got the cutest little Alaskan Malamute puppy.’

‘Sure.’

‘But she got a really unexpected job offer, so now they have to move and they can’t keep the dog.’

‘That’s understandable.’

‘And so they asked if I wanted him.’

‘And you said…’ 

‘And I said yes.’

He just stared at her.

‘He was licking my toes, Don! My toes! With his cute little puppy dog tongue! What was I supposed to do?’

Don rubbed his hands over his face tiredly.

Okay.

Alright.

Okay.

‘So, I’m just going to go the obvious route here: we don’t even live together. What are we going to do, have a custody arrangement?’

She bit her lip, looked at him through her lashes. ‘We could. Or.’

He raised his eyebrows. ‘Or?’

‘We could move in together?’

‘We…’

_Holy shit?_

They stared at each other in shocked silence, stunned by the enormity of the moment. Sloan was shifting from foot to foot, clearly nervous.

Wait.

Don narrowed his eyes at her.

‘Is this another test? Because I gotta tell you, you got me kind of excited to see a dog now.’

‘It’s not a test,’ she promised quietly.

More silence. Then:

‘You told me you would only move in with a guy if you were engaged.’

She inhaled softly. ‘Yes.’ 

‘Because of the thing.’ 

‘The thing, yes.’

‘Is this…’ he took in her wide-eyed expression, her agitated demeanour. ‘Are you  _proposing_?’

She shot him a withering look. ‘I like to think you’d know if I was proposing.’

He shrugged. ‘Maybe.’

‘My proposal game would be strong, Don. So strong. It would be far superior to any other proposal in human history.’

He felt the corners of his mouth quirk upwards. ‘That good, huh?’

‘The best,’ she insisted fiercely.

‘I’ll have to take your word for it, then.’

Sloan frowned for a moment, seeming to think it over. ‘If I propose, can we keep the dog?’

‘Try again,’ he warned.

‘Okay! Okay.’ She stopped fidgeting, looked him directly in the eyes. The intensity of her gaze was staggering. ‘I would love to live with you. Very much.’

He felt a dumb smile spread across his face. ‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah. You and our dog.’

_Our dog._

He just stared at her for a long moment, positively dumbstruck.

This was not the direction he’d expected this day to take.

‘Two-thirds,’ he announced finally.

Sloan stared at him blankly. ‘… what?’

‘I am two-thirds of the way convinced that this is a good idea. I gotta warn you though, that last third? It’s a killer.’

Her entire face lit up.

‘That’s 67%. I can work with that.’

‘Uh, no it’s not, Madame Mathematique.’

‘I’m rounding up.’

‘Uh,  _no_ , you’re overestimating how willing I am to own this dog.’

‘And  _you_ are dramatically underestimating it. I thought you could use a hand.’ 

She was looking at him with the most stupidly pleased look he’d probably ever seen. Don just sighed.

He’d never really stood a chance.

‘Is he cute?’

Sloan looked at him solemnly. ‘Don, if he was a human, I would leave you for him in a second.’

‘Good to know.’

‘I’m serious. I wouldn’t even think about it.’

‘Probably good to have us all living in the same space then,’ he ventured quietly, meeting her eyes. ‘So I can keep an eye on that situation.’

A dazzling,  _terrified_  grin spread slowly across Sloan’s face.

‘Yeah?’ she breathed.

Fuck. He was actually doing this.

He only nodded.

‘Well. Okay then.’

‘Okay.’

They spent another few moments staring at each other stupidly. Then, as the thought occurred to him:

‘Wait. Where’s the dog right now?’

She winced. ‘I may or may not have hidden him in Will’s office?’

Don felt his face drop. Oh,  _fuck._

‘We should probably go, take care of that.’

‘Oh, definitely.’

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
